The application of carbonaceous particles to the construction and implementation of articles for use in downhole tooling can significantly improve their mechanical, thermal, and/or electrical performance. For example, diamond as a carbonaceous particle is known to have an extremely high degree of hardness, abrasiveness, and thermal conductivity.
Specifically, polycrystalline diamond compacts (PDCs) formed of small (e.g., nano- and/or micron-sized) diamond grains (i.e., carbonaceous particles) fused and bonded together by a high temperature, high pressure process using a metal catalyst, and supported on a ceramic substrate, can be incorporated onto a drill bit. Such drill bits have been found to provide a superabrasive abrasive surface, which is capable of cutting through hard rock for extended periods of time, and under severe down-hole conditions of temperature, pressure, and corrosive down-hole environments, while maintaining the integrity and performance of the drill bit.
The beneficial effects of such carbonaceous particles strongly depends on their size and composition, however. Therefore, it can be important to control effectively the synthesis of carbonaceous particles and, thus, to have the ability to produce particles of known and controllable sizes and their finely tuned mixtures.